Attachment for furniture frames



April 5, 1955 T. A. FRIEDLANDER ATTACHMENT FOR FURNITURE FRAMES Filed Oct. 17, 1951 INVENTOR- ,7 9 u flzl. Lac/d5 ATTORNEY United States Patent ATTACHMENT FOR FURNITURE FRAMES Thomas A. Friedlander, Baltimore, Md.

Application October 17, 1951, Serial No. 251,802

Claims. (Cl. 155-188) The present invention relates to a novel attachment for furniture frames which are to be reupholstered. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel furniture attachment means whereby the frame of a chair or sofa can be adapted therewith prior to being reupholstered.

Upholstered chairs and furniture as they are now manufactured are generally shaped such that their top rearward portions will abut against the wall against which they are placed, eventually resulting in the wall being marred or discolored. The chair or sofa also receives undue wear in such cases and, as a result, has to be reupholstered within a relatively short time.

It is one of the objects of the present invention, therefore, to provide a novel chair or sofa attachment whereby the attachment will serve to prevent the back of the chair or sofa from contacting a generally vertical surface when it is placed adjacent thereto.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a chair construction comprising a substantially triangular section that is adapted to be attached to the back of a chair or sofa before reupholstering, the bottom of the section designed to prevent the chair or sofa back from striking a vertical abutment position adjacent there to.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an attachment for furniture frames to be reupholstered which includes horizontally extending portions which firmly connect a plurality of attachment sections to the frame to be reupholstered.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a reupholstered chair incorporating the attachment, the frame and attachment shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a chair frame with the attaching means in place, the upholstery shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the attachment unit; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of an attachment unit.

Referring to the drawings, a chair frame is generally indicated and includes rear leg members 11, 12 and front leg members 13, 14. The front leg members are somewhat shorter than the rear leg members in accordance with conventional chair design. Horizontally extending members 15, 16, 17 connect the rear leg member 11 to the front leg member 13. Similar horizontally extending members 18, 19, 20 connect the rear leg members 12 to the front leg member 14. The rear leg members 11, 12 have structural supports 21, 22 fixedly securing them in place with respect to each other, while the front leg members 13, 14 are securely fixed by similar structural supporting members 23, 24. The structural members connecting the legs are fastened thereto by a suitable joint construction which is capable of resisting the turning movements between the legs and structural members.

Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings, the frame, as originally fabricated, is shown with the top portion of the rear leg members extending more rearwardly than the bottom portion. Consequently, if the original frame were placed against a rear vertical abutment, the top portion of the rear legs would strike the abutment. The

2,705,528 Patented Apr. 5, 1955 instant invention avoids these difficulties encountered with presently known chairs and sofas in causing wall discoloration and excessive upholstery wear by securing to the original frame a novel attachment, generally indicated at 30. The attachment, shown particularly in Fig. 3 consists of two substantially triangular sections 31, 32. The front faces 33, 34 of the sections are adapted to be secured to the original frame legs 11, 12 by suitable fastening means, for example, as shown at 35, 36, 37 (Fig. 2). The rear faces 38, 39 are convex in shape, the lower portions of the sections curving outwardly. However, it is understood that the faces could be formed in straight portions. This has the effect of extending the lower portions of the sections more rearwardly than the upper portions. The feet 40, 41 are formed out of the sections 30, 31 so that the entire unit, including the frame and the attachment, presents a pleas ing appearance. A horizontal structural member 42 for providing rigidity to the attachment unit 30 extends between the two attachment sections 31, 32 and is fastened thereto by suitable means.

Any suitable upholstery material 43 can be employed to cover the complete unit after the attachment 30 has been securely fastened to the frame 10..

Referring to Fig. 2, the frame 10 with attachment 30 secured to the frame is shown positioned against a wall W. Instead of the rear leg 11 striking the wall W, as was the case when the original frame was placed against the wall, the foot 40 strikes the baseboard of the wall and in so doing prevents the back of the chair from making any contact with the wall.

A modified form of the attachment is shown in Fig. 4, and generally consists of two attaching pieces 50, 51. The attaching pieces are shown as having a generally curved surface but it is understood that straight pieces could be employed for the same purpose. The attaching pieces 50, 51 are secured to the frame 10 at their topmost portions 52, 53 by suitable means and along the rear portion of the frame 10. Additional attaching pieces 54, 55, located in a horizontal plane and substantially perpendicular to the members 50, 51 are secured by some convenient means to the members 50, 51 at one end and to the frame 10 at their other end. These pieces 54, 55 are added to lend structural support to the attachment structure. Further structural support is added by strengthening members 56, 57 which connect the attaching members 50, 51. Attachment of the modification shown in Fig. 4 will be a simple process of securing ends 52, 53 and pieces 54, 55 to the frame 10 by some suitable means. In this manner, a chair or sofa frame is reformed that can be reupholstered in any fashion but that has the additional advantage of being economical to adapt.

It is obvious that by utilizing the novel attachment means for furniture described herein, it will be possible to reupholster any known chair or sofa and thereby transform that chair or sofa into a practical design that can be effectively used in the home or office to preserve the life of the walls and furniture.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an article of furniture, a furniture frame adapted to be upholstered, a separately formed attachment adapted to be secured to said frame, said attachment having an upper portion and a lower portion, said lower portion being secured to the lower part of said frame at the rear thereof and said upper portion being secured to the upper part of said frame at the rear thereof, the rear face of said attachment being inclined so that the lower portion thereof extends outwardly beyond the horizontal projection of said upper portion thereby forming said frame with a lower part extending more rearwardly than the upper part thereof, whereby when said frame is positioned adjacent a vertical wall contact of the upper part of said frame with said wall is prevented.

2. In an article of furniture, a furniture frame adapted to be upholstered, a separately formed attachment adapted to be secured to said frame, said attachment comprising a pair of substantially vertically extending sections, means interconnecting said sections, each of said sections having an upper portion and a lower portion, said lower portion of said sections secured to the lower part of said frame at the rear thereof, and said upper portion of said sections secured to the upper portion of said frame at the rear thereof, the rear face of each of said sections being inclined so that said attachment lower portions extend outwardly beyond the horizontal projection of said attachment upper portions, the shape of said frame being changed so that the lower rear part thereof extends more rearwardly than the upper rear part, the rearwardly extending lower rear part of said frame preserving the back of the finished upholstered chair by preventing the upper rear part from striking a vertical wall when said chair is placed adjacent thereto.

3. In an article of furniture, a furniture frame adapted to be upholstered, a separately formed attachment adapted to be secured to said frame, said attachment including a pair of substantially vertically extending sections, each of said sections having a rear portion fitting flush against the rear of said frame and a front portion extending from the upper portion of the rear of said frame to a point displaced outwardly from the lower portion of the rear of said frame, thereby forming said frame with a new upper and a new lower part, said new lower part extending more rearwardly than the new upper part whereby when said frame is positioned adjacent a vertical wall contact of said upper part of said frame is prevented.

4. In a furniture frame adapted to be upholstered, a separately formed attachment adapted to be secured to said frame, said attachment comprising triangularlyshaped sections, each of said sections having one side fitting flush against the rear of said frame and secured thereto, the larger portion of said triangular sections being positioned adjacent the lower portion of said frame and the smaller portion of said triangular sections being positioned adjacent the upper portion of said frame, thereby forming said frame with a lower part extending more rearwardly than the upper part thereof, whereby when said frame is positioned adjacent a vertical wall contact of the upper part of said frame with said wall is prevented.

5. In a furniture frame adapted to be upholstered, a separately formed attachment adapted to be secured to said frame, said attachment comprising a pair of substantially vertically extending members, means interconnecting said members, the upper portion of said members being secured to the upper rear portion of said frame, a'pair of horizontally extending attaching pieces, one end of said attaching pieces being secured to said members at the lower portion thereof, the other end of said attaching pieces being secured to the lower portion of said frame, thereby extending said lower portion of said members outwardly beyond the horizontal projection of the upper portion thereof, whereby when said frame is positioned adjacent a vertical wall contact of the upper part of said frame with said wall is prevented.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 137,738 Trevitt Apr. 8, 1873 1,512,326 Wynn Oct. 21, 1924 1,886,988 Thelen Nov. 8, 1932 1,953,168 Geyer' Apr. 3, 1934 2,023,173 Hiener Dec. 3, 1935 2,499,230 Sharrow Feb. 28, 1950 2,519,466 Hauser Aug. 22, 1950 2,615,505 Friedlander Oct. 28, 1952 

